It has been over two weeks since the events at the Institute.
"Phew."
This feeling from so long ago, and this job from so long ago. Going to work was something from a life time ago.
She had more problems with disorganization than confusion, and made quite a few silly mistakes. Saibara Mina stood there in the pristine white uniform of a nurse and sighed, but it was not from irritation at her own carelessness or from tiredness.
This was the municipal hospital at the outskirts of Kannonsakazaki.
An enigmatic event where doctors, nurses, and patients had all mysteriously disappeared happened a few months ago here, stirring up a fervor where the public threatened to abandon the hospital. However, there was no money to build a new hospital under the current economic conditions, and so the hospital reopened for business after some simple repairs and renovations. As this was the only hospital in town, the majority of residents did not strongly opposed this move despite their horror towards the incident.
Mina used her ability to twist cause and effect, the miraculous powers of her Fragment, to obtain a job in this hospital, and worked busily everyday as a nurse. As an immortal, Mina did not need food and she was not desperate for money, but she really wanted to work.
Previously, she had become fed up with meaningless arguments between colleagues, difficult patients, and her strict but useless superiors. Due to that, she had stopped going to work, locked herself in her room - and starved herself to death.
Saibara Mina ardently hoped she could live everything over again.
She had lived as Sterilization Disinfection, an inhuman existence that held no doubts and dutifully fulfilled the 'role' of God. Mina couldn't help but be upset at this. She rebelled against God, and decided to keep living as a human - as Saibara Mina.
Mina also had dreams, a desire to help those suffering from diseases and injuries - when did she start to forget that brilliant dream? When did she start to hate everything around her?
She wanted to be proud of herself as a nurse, as the person Mitsuki looked up to, and keep living like this.
Compared to becoming God, the perfect existence, it was harder to live as an ordinary human.
However, Mina was enjoying a full life, something she had almost forgotten, as much as she could.
Even Mina herself was surprised about how she was not only alive, but living as a human. She found this to be wonderful.
"Oh?"
Mina was changing in front of her locker in the nurses' changing room at the end of her morning shift, which lasted till 4pm, when suddenly, she found a girl standing in front of the door.
This girl had an unique wolf-like hair cut and her eyes were cold as gun-barrels. As opposed to her left arm, which rapidly regenerated itself when she recovered into that divine form, her right arm had not returned from the annihilation wrought upon it by Mina.
Mina ignored her and sighed as she kept changing her clothes.
"You don't know how to knock, do you? You really startled me, standing there so quietly."
"Speaking of being startled, I am a bit surprised too." Skilfully diverting Mina's complaints, Guriko mumbled as she leaned her back against the door. "Sterilization Disinfection, you're working like a normal person."
Mina was somewhat repulsed towards the term Sterilization Disinfection, but it was such a bother to warn and correct the other over something so small. Mina answered vaguely: "What's the matter? I've got an appointment now. Please be quick."
Guriko nodded and said with a serious expression: "Tell me how to return Rinne to how she was before."
She glared at Mina with serious eyes: "You made a promise... don't tell me you don't know."
Mina quickly finished changing her clothes and looked into the distance: "Well -"
She put her uniform into her bag and stared at Guriko when she finished preparing: "There is no existence on Earth that knows the truth about this world."
Guriko furrowed her brows in confusion. Mina spoke nonchalantly: "You should be aware of this after the previous incident, no? This world is full of incomprehensible things. Fragments, monsters, the Seven Kobitos, God... as a part of this, even we perhaps do not clearly comprehend these things."
Mina, who was originally a human, had obtained more information compared to the average person after she was given the 'role' of Sterilization Disinfection. However, she had only grasped a small part of the mystery that filled this world.
"To be frank, even I cannot return a Meat Doll to how it was before."
"What did you say?"
Mina waved her hand and stopped Guriko, whose killing intent had started to rise: "Indeed - it is far more difficult to remedy than to destroy. However, there are still ways to repair things that have been destroyed."
She spoke that name quietly.
"Find Single Room!"
Guriko had never heard of that name before, and she put on a puzzled expression. Mina nodded and said calmly: "Single Room is the Greater Fragment with the power of Genesis, the power of creating the world. It was arguably the ultimate existence amongst us, the one who was the closest to God."
Mina walked towards Guriko, who narrowed her eyes, and asked: “Do you know about the Mushi?”
Guriko looked incredulous when she suddenly heard this name mentioned.
Mina said: “Mushi are rumored to be small fragments of the Greater Fragment named God Mushi Emperor. I’m not quite sure what their true forms are. However – I obtained the necessary knowledge to fulfill the ‘role’ of Sterilization Disinfection from the Mushi. That was definitely God Mushi Emperor’s ‘role’.”
Mina remembered the horde of red-eyed Mushi that had suddenly showed up soon after Mitsuki and her were given Greater Fragments.
“I was told of the existence of ‘Single Room’ back then, as one who holds the power of Genesis."
She talked sedately as she recalled those memories. “Single Room can fundamentally overthrow the laws of the world including resurrecting the dead, stopping time, recreating dimensions – he is apparently an existence possessing these special powers. He should have a chance at returning a Meat Doll to its former state.”
“He? This one is male?”
A sparkle of hope lit in Guriko’s eyes.
Mina narrowed her eyes and walked to stand beside Guriko. She put her hand on the door, then turned to Guriko and shook her head.
“I don’t know. Single Room, who created the world, and PoisonCatastrophe, who created the Tower of Babel, are the most mysterious amongst the Seven Kobitos… we don’t know their age, appearances, gender, or their current locations. Single Room in particular seems to have been missing for hundreds of years.”
“You want me to go find something like that?” There was a hint of anger in Guriko’s voice, but Mina did not mind.
“It’s much better than having no hope, right? Besides, Single Room is also an existence that I am desperate to find. Single Room may know the method to wake up Ki-chan, whose future only consists of despair, from her frozen sleep.”
Mina looked up and walked into the silent hospital corridor.
“Therefore, Gankyū Eguriko – I, Sterilization Disinfection, Saibara Mina, will help you the best I can in order to find Single Room. Keep in contact with me! And I will also tell you anything I find.”
A spoon made a clanking sound as it stabbed into the ground next to Mina’s feet.
“I actually hate you so very much. You killed Rinne, killed my parents, and you took away my right arm and my ordinary life. I really really want to kill you, Sterilization Disinfection.” A tenderness was suddenly mixed in her voice: “But it’s far worse for you to keep living in agony compared to being killed here and now, no? Therefore I won’t kill you. I will never kill you – I will keep giving you the punishment named life until you go mad.”
Mina smiled as she heard those words, which feigned malevolence but were words of kindness in truth. She turned to look at Guriko, who stood where she was and looked lost.
“Thank you.”
“Squeak –”
This world was full of the terrible fates, deaths, and riots that came after God's demise.
There was no hope and no miracles. No matter what one gained, happiness would still slip away between one's fingers.
She originally thought of life as an unending darkness, filled with ceaseless agony, without even the hope of salvation.
"What..."
I must look very foolish right now. As Mina thought this, she stood where she was in shock.
Her soul had left her. Her consciousness had flown away. She kept blinking in incomprehension.
This was an ordinary shopping street in a mundane town, close to the Kannonsakazaki Private High School. In a corner of the street was an un-fashionable traditional cafe, and a girl was sitting in the seat in the middle of the cafe.
She wore large gloves and her dark brown hair were tied into pony tails. She also had a round-eared hat and a tail decoration, exactly as how she had looked before she entered that underground institute.
Her expression was innocent and her movements naive.
I recognize this girl.
Is this a dream?
An illusion?
Or have I gone mad?
Or perhaps an attack upon my mind from a new foe? Is he is allowing me to see a happy illusion, only to attack during that time?
"Ah, it's big sis."
That person said with a gentle voice. She - Saibara Mitsuki - smiled like a blooming flower.
Mina's mind was temporarily fuddled: "An enemy! There's an enemy, right? Hurry up and show yourself. I won't allow you to do something as cruel as this! You have touched upon my sore spot, me, Sterilization Disinfection! Fine - I will play with you! Immediately remove this deliberate and coincidental illusion and fight me face to face!"
"Mi, Mi, Mina-san, Mina-san." Next to Mitsuki, who was scared stiff, Tatsue and Mitaka also had pale expressions and appeared as confused as Mina. Right. She made an appointment with both of them and the frozen Mitsuki at this cafe. At least she wanted Mitsuki to see the chocolate parfait she wanted to eat at the very end -
Mina walked brusquely over and leaned down quietly towards Tatsue's face: "What happened? Tell me in three seconds. I'm almost crazy."
"Huh, huh, Mi, Mina-san, please calm down!"
Tatsue looked at Mina, whose expression was terrifying, and stuttered: "Um, I don't... understand it either. Just now, a boy rushed into the cafe - he looked at Ki-chan, and used a knife -"
Tatsue looked at Mitaka as if asking for his help. He added with confusion: "Mmm - it looked like a cross. But its tip was very sharp, like a knife. That boy took one look at Mitsuki and muttered 'so sad', then he - stabbed."
"He stabbed at the frozen Ki-chan?" Mitaka shook his head.
"No. He stabbed at his own abdomen."
She didn't understand at all.
She couldn't understand either the meaning, reason, or goal behind him approaching Mitsuki, saying 'so sad', then eviscerating himself.
Perhaps Tatsue became more and more confused as she remembered the event? She kept speaking in broken sentences: "Then, those - blood, or bones, all slimy and glug glug, slid out of the boy's stomach in an unbelievable way, and wrapped themselves around Ki-chan as if it was alive - was there light? I closed my eyes because it hurt, then - "
"I heard a sound." Mitaka narrowed his eyebrows and spoke the enigmatic words the unknown boy left behind. "He said - 'welcome to my room'."
Room.
Mina thought of something and asked with wide-open eyes: "Then, as soon as you came to, Ki-chan had already returned to normal, right?"
"Yes -"
Tatsue nodded.
Mina looked at the sky and felt dizzy.
He returned Mitsuki, who had been near death due to the energy depletion of her Fragment when Unpleasant Counter-Current lost control, back to her former self? Besides, how had he removed Sterilization Disinfection's Jack JewelFixation Mist that had fixed Mitsuki's flesh?
So omnipotent that it was unreasonable. An ultimate power that was akin to miracles.
There was no mistake.
"It was Single Room." Mina said as she gazed at Mitaka and Tatsue.
"What, what did that boy look like? I have to tell Gankyū Eguriko... I didn't think he would be so close..."
"What did he look like -"
Mitaka furrowed his brows as if remembering: "He wore a strange T-shirt."
"He had mud-stained jeans."
"He had red hair. That was the only memorable part -"
"Fangs - no, he had cute baby teeth. That was attractive."
She felt these answers were very different to the Single Room she had imagined.
Mina was confused, and asked with a controlled expression: "A little wild boy that like was actually Single Room? The one who created the universe... did you also notice anything else about him?"
She wanted any kind of information she could get.
He has the terrifying power to twist the laws of this world. It would be best not to assume he helped Mitsuki to recover out of the goodness of his heart. She could not calm down if she did not know the reason behind what happened with Mitsuki.
It would be meaningless if she only recovered for a brief while and will crumble again soon.
She waited for an answer as she thought anxiously. The other two both shook their heads in confusion.
"No. It was so unexpected, after all. I am very confused from the shock of seeing Ki-chan returning to normal."
"Mmm. Also... that boy seemed to be chased by something, no? He immediately left after he returned Mitsuki to normal, and said something incomprehensible."
Mina urged Mitaka with her expression to repeat those words.
He said these words to her without much confidence: "Something like 'I felt the power of a Greater Fragment. I thought it'd be PoisonCatastrophe, but I was wrong, huh!' - something like that."
"He seemed to be looking for someone?"
PoisonCatastrophe.
Just like Single Room.
It was also one of the Greater Fragments that took on the 'role' of God.
Mina felt a cold shiver down her spine.
An unimaginable story is happening somewhere I do not know about.
Mina lifted her head and imagined God looking down upon them and laughing at their ignorance.
She endured the sense of dizziness and looked towards Mitsuki. Mitsuki propped her chin on her hands and looked very happy.
The expressionless cafe owner was holding that chocolate parfait with its lethal sweetness.
"Woah, woah this, this this, aah, I didn't think I'd be able to eat it again!" She then looked this way and smiled.
"Tatsu-chan, Mi-chan, big sis, are you talking about something serious? Is it fun? If it's not fun, then it's happier not to think about it." She made the first bite and swallowed it, then looked dazed.
"Mmm."
Two spoonfuls, three spoonfuls, four spoonfuls. She kept eating.
The chocolate parfait famous for its juicy cherries, cornflakes hardened with granulated sugar, and extra thick chocolate creme.
"Mmm! Mmm - it's so awesome!"
She ate with an expression full of happiness, then smiled at the three others.
"It's fine, it's fine. I don't think God is playing tricks on us because He hates the world. I think He is trying to protect the world and is trying all sorts of ways to maintain the world. So even if we don't think about those difficult stuff, the world would still be always stable - love and peace!"
Mina looked at her sister, who was yelling this out for no reason, and sighed. She decided to put her worries aside for now.
She had once been dissected and hurt by others and dominated by hatred, and yet she was still smiling happily. If she could do that,then it was the least Mina could do not to think about those anxious or depressing matters for now.
"You're right."
Perhaps one day plots, malevolence, greed, and fate will bring the entire world into misfortune, and us with it.
However, now we're looking at the smiles of the Fallen Angel - the one who shouldered the duty of destroying us. She disobeyed God's plans. Even though it wasn't due to our powers alone, we are still not giving up and fighting against destiny.
Just like her, who survived from the most terrible Hell and is currently enjoying the small joy of eating desserts, let's not think of difficult matters and enjoy the current moment with a smile. That's what Mina thought.
Mina walked towards Mitsuki and hugged her from behind her seat, just like she used to.
Back then, when Mina felt happy she would smiled naturally and hug Mitsuki like this. When did she forget this?
No - she should be able to start anew.
"It's good to be alive, Ki-chan." Mina shed tears as she felt Mitsuki's warm body. She asked her little sister: "Is it tasty?"
"Mm!" Mitsuki smiled exaggeratedly with her mouth, which was all sticky with the chocolate creme.
She was as optimistic as an angel, as if she could help others realize that there was still hope in the future. Mina threw away all her negative emotions and smiled. Mitsuki smiled with her.
"I am so happy."
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