Vol 8 Chapter 31 (1/2)

CHAPTER 3

of war's ile of war's impartial contention,

-Hoth Please He prayed, but not to God He prayed to the girl with the wilful gaze Safu, give us strength A little th for us

The door opened, but not by enough They could not escape yet Nezu behind hi to his feet He silently stretched his hands out, and his fingers grasped the door They looked at each other Tsukiyo poked his face out of the folds of superfibre and cried once, loudly

Cheep!

Nezunal to push the door with all their h with some effort

The elevator careened His feet stuet out!” Nezuap The elevator gave an irritating screech, which turned into a ru for the two to escape before setting off

Nezuratitude, Safu Sweat poured down his cheeks The wound on his leg throbbed His heart pounded against his pectoral muscles from the inside

He was in pain

Hisoff, and barely re, this heartbeat was nothing less than proof that he was alive He was still alive Still alive

He opened his eyes and took in his surroundings

He saw scattered glass shards and a wet corridor Twodead The black-haired soldier and Rashi+ were unchanged fro in the corridor covered in blood, and another was thrown out on the ground near the wall The barriers were gone The sprinklers were off There was no hu Only Nezu could be heard, al exploded He spun around and saw s out of a room at the end of the hall It was the roo the ventilation duct Flah the door left ajar

It was burning

A si explosion rocked them from the floor below He could hear the co

The cora into flames Like loyal subjects, all devices within the Correctional Facility were following after thein their master's footsteps, despite the fact that they had no soul? No; they had only been programmed to do so The mother's failure meant death for all systeured to self-detonate as soon as they stopped receiving signals fro wiped or deleted, or the device itself going out of operation They were forcibly destroyed

So were they following the rave after all? It was forced suicide The syste to survive Had the creator of this systeic?

The flames had crawled into the corridor The heat attacked the devices were operating Neither smoke extraction devices nor air filtration devices orking A system which had been so flawlessly tuned to eradicate unwanted objects was coo down We have to escape doards”

They clambered down the stairs Hot air blew at the to escape

”Fire! It's a fire!”

”No, it was an explosion! Suddenly I couldn't control the thing anymore Oh, look at this mess!”

”Help me! My arm, it's been blown off―a doctor―”

”Oh, I' on? What's thesee with the lights?”

”Someone, this person's covered in blood So me”

”We can't use the elevator The stairs―only the stairs are left”

It was truly a pandemonium A et down before the other Some slipped and fell on top of others Some tried to help their friends; others stepped over the fallen ones and fled; soency route A woering woman out of his way as he ran past her―each one showed his true colours in this tragic scene

An even louder explosion shook the air

It had evidently blown a hole soan to move in a current The smoke cleared somewhat If even for a ain, the same sound, and the faint roar of a crowd

Nezumi turned around and confir The trapped prisoners were causing a co had been computer-monitored, then every door should be unlocked by now Perhaps that noise was the sound of the prisoners cheering and roaring at being set free

But if that was so

They reached the third floor The flames, smoke, and confusion were ht a breath on the stairwell, restored their reason and were atte each other

Can we keep at it and escape? Hope flared A ray of light pierced the darkness

All syste reduced to a , an empty shell with no function With the addition of the prisoners, the chaos was bound to get worse

And when that happens Perhaps it would be easy to take advantage of this situation to escape There was not o” Nezurabbed shi+on's wrist shi+on did not et out of here”

”Why did you kill her?” shi+on asp Nezuaze He could feel his blood turning cold He was freezing over gradually from his extremities

”Nezuht in his throat, and took on an unnaturalto static-filled h outdated speakers

”We― I came here to save Safu Save her not kill her” shi+on's whole body began to treitation, nor wrath, nor sadness, nor anguish

”shi+on, ere too late She was already―”

”Safu was alive” shi+on's murky voice jolted him sharply He felt like he had been slapped on the cheek ”She was living, and standing right in front of me”

”That was an illusion You should have known yourself That wasn't her It was just an illusion”

”No! No! No!” shi+on yelled ”Safu was alive She was alive, and that hy she could appear in front of me Nezumi, I don't care what form she took Safu was definitely alive”

”No matter what form, huh”

”Yeah Safu may have lost her body, but she was alive She was alive and waiting for me I needed to save her I should have stayed here with her Isn't that right, Nezumi?”

Safu was alive Was she? Had she really been? Nezu for shi+on She had been waiting devotedly, just for hiain And her wish had been granted

Safu, shi+on overcaer to come to you You were able to meet your most beloved person But what you wished for next was to disappear froht Yes, you wished for it

You didn't want shi+on to see you

That hy

”shi+on, we couldn't have saved her She and the ether And she she chose to die with it”

”Is that your reason? Your reason forSafu?”

”Then what should I have done?” Nezumi yelled His blood, which was supposed to be frozen, boiled and raced through his body in a hot stream ”Don't you understand how she felt? She summoned us because she wanted to see you And―and couldn't you see it was because she wanted to be saved? I don'tfrom the Correctional Facility She'd already known it was impossible That hy she wanted you at least to save her from that wretched situation You were the last person whom she wanted to see her like that I ht?”

Nezu was erratic shi+on's expression did not change Not even a twitch of an eyebrow The s at Nezumi's eyes

We have to run We can't waste any hts were clear, but his feet would not move They quaked at shi+on's eyes

”shi+on, I can't think of it as you do We were too late Safu was already dead” They were his true thoughts ”You aren't looking at reality It would have been impossible to separate her from the mother She even said so herself: she had no body, but she was still trapped She said it hurt, that she wanted you to set her free She wished to be set free from that situation, fro shi+on was the one with the wrong idea He was unable to accept the reality of losing Safu He was trying to avert his eyes from the truth

”You used her” A lo mutter Nezumi did not catch it

”What?”

”You used Safu to destroy the ht?” shi+on's eyes shi+fted slowly froht to left Tsukiyo peeked out froain

”Destroying the Correctional Facility was your purpose fro Your object was never to save Safu, it was to destroy the Correctional Facility, and to use it as a gateway to destroy No 6 You aiting for that chance all along That hy you didn't hesitate to destroy the mother You didn't hesitate at all You used her for your own purposes You sacrificed her”

Nezumi stared at shi+on Used her? Didn't hesitate at all? Sacrificed her? shi+on, you really think so?

But is he wrong?

He heard a voice questioning him back It was not shi+on's It was his own voice Did you not use her? Did you not sacrifice her? Did you not prioritize your oishes over saving another life?

Didn't you? Didn't you? Didn't you?

Roar Roar

A knot of people wearing dark green shi+rts ca They were prisoners Their loud cheering hit the walls around them, bounced, and echoed claet out

”Stop! I said stop!” The Security Bureau official's orders were drowned out by the din Suddenly, a gunshot rang out Ato run past Nezumi careened backwards and fell onto the floor in the corridor He had been shot through the head

”Stop! Stop, or I will shoot!”

”Run! Get outta here!” the prisoners yelled ”Don't stop! Escape! Hurry, hurry and get outta here!”

All the prisoners had bloodshot eyes So at the mouth Every one of them roared like beasts as they ran

To become a prisoner of the Correctional Facility ardless of the severity of the crime, as soon as they were iet killed anyway, so why not cling to this miracle? We'll latch onto this one-in-a-million chance, and be free

To the outside world To the outside world Run to the light

Gunshots Sprays of blood A white-haired prisoner cru Gunshots, explosions, srabbed shi+on's arered and buround, still leaning on the wall

”Nezumi I'm sorry” A whimper spilled from his bloodless lips ”I'm sorry I―I―” shi+on covered his face with his hands, and drew several ragged breaths

”I know,” shi+on said ”I knoe had no choice but to do it You granted Safu's wish I have no reason nor right to blame you It was me I should have been the one to do it It was my job to set Safu free But I couldn't I was scared and I couldn't do it I leaned on you again, thrust everything onto you, and e round”

Nezu been through such a hellish ordeal, it had not lost any of its lustre Every single hair shi+ed Rikiga-san and Inukashi+ into it and if the result was this Nezuive salvation But look―”

”We came for destruction”

shi+on lifted his face It was sht I had only one purpose, and it was to destroy the Correctional Facility I never had plans to save Safu fro”

”Nezumi”

Nezumi looked away froaze

”I needed you I knew that without your et around inside the Facility You wereti about Safu was just an excuse I just used you and her to satisfyI betrayed you I was tricking you all along You didn't gettrap