ANIMT - Episodes 43-44

ANIMT - Chapter 43. Encounter in the Evening Darkness

I Got An Extra Six Months of Life Expectancy, And Now It’s My Time

After I left the chemistry room, I couldn’t bring myself to go back to the dormitory, so I wandered around the school building aimlessly like a ghost haunting the school. I felt guilty for breaking my promise with Kusaka-sensei, but I was tired of thinking and I had fallen into a zombie state where my body did as it pleased.

After a while, I started to regain my senses and began to wonder how long I had been wandering around like this. Before I knew it, I found myself on the third floor of the training building. Stopping in the corridor and looking out a window, I saw the eerie red sunset and purple darkness of the sky: a wonderful contrast.

There was no sign of anyone else around, and it seemed that the preparations for the cultural festival had long since ended. The deafening silence finally got to me, and I snapped back to reality.

I wondered if the reason I had unconsciously come here was a sense of longing for contact with the bustling daily student life, even if only for a moment, to clear away the haze that hung over my heart. Maybe somewhere in my heart, I was looking for an escape route to forget the heavy reality I faced. Maybe I just wanted to talk to anyone, to talk about trivial things, and be my usual cheerful self.

But at this time of night, it was extremely unlikely I would see anyone. The fact that I was alone at school made me feel even sadder.

As I pondered this, I could tell I had reached a precipice of no return, just as Kusaka-sensei had said. Just one more metaphorical step and I could kiss goodbye any hope of living my final days in peace.

I still have a few problems left. There are a lot of things I have to do tomorrow, and several others that I have to try my best to face. I also don’t have much time remaining, so.

Admonishing myself for self-indulging in this pity party, I told myself that I had to be stronger. I then turned around to head back to the dormitory, for real this time.

“… Mitsuba!”

“Yes… ?”

The voice was familiar. It was a low voice that was rough, but somehow reassuring to my ears.

As I racked my brains, I heard someone running wildly down the corridor.

I turned around and there he was.

“Kitora?”

“… You! Where have you been wandering about all this time?”

Upon finding me, the first thing he did was chase me down with those long legs of his, not hesitating in approaching. He then stared at me with those glaring gold eyes and barked out such coarse words.

Caught off guard, my irises must have dilated to the size of dinner plates, but after a short delay, I managed to temper myself and answer in my usual tone.

“What? Why are you accosting me so suddenly?!”

“Shut up! Where the hell were you?”

Hmm? For a moment, I tilted my head, wondering what was going on, but then I understood what would have set him off like this.

Before I went to the student council room and the chemistry room earlier that day, I had stopped by the tree Kitora was napping on. I’m pretty sure I then invited him to come to the cultural festival practice… Oh dear.

“The class said that you went back to the dormitory because you were not feeling well, and when I went back to the dormitory to complain, Umetaro said that you had not come back yet. I wondered if you had collapsed somewhere at school, so I went to look for you, but you were just standing up here? You’re so frustrating! You stupid bitch!”

The second half of the sentence was an incessant barrage of invective, but I couldn’t muster my normal level of retorts. My dulled brain was still struggling to keep up with what he was saying.

Let me work through what happened. Kitora must have tried to attend the class practice I invited him to. But I wasn’t there because I felt unwell (a lie Kusaka-sensei delivered on my behalf), and although I should have been back at the dormitory, Kitora couldn’t find me there. He must have looked around for me to see if something was wrong.

“Were you worried about me?”

Looking closely, I could see his red hair slicked with sweat. At this time of year, fall, and at dusk at that, it should be chilly. However, his white, long-sleeved shirt was rolled up, exposing his toned arms.

Maybe this was the case, maybe it wasn’t.

“… I told you already. I wanted to complain to you.”

He should have just admitted the reason honestly. It was clear as day that he was worried about me after I was nowhere to be found, especially when I was not feeling well enough to attend the cultural festival practice.

I felt an unbearable sense of relief from this clumsy oaf known as Kitora.

The warmth of the fire he exuded melted away the depression and loneliness that I had been feeling just a moment ago. The burning hair felt like a precious source of fire that I had found in the extreme cold. Before I knew it, a smile had formed on my face.

“Hey, stop smirking.”

“Hmm, I don’t think I can do that. I’m really glad that you’re my partner. Kitora and I.”

“Huh?”

He looked at me in confusion, but such trivial exchanges were an important part of my daily life now.

To pay back just a little of what I received, I squeezed out an “I’m sorry, and thank you!”

Kitora murmured in response.

“It’s alright. You’re doing fine… ”

“Hmm? What did you say?”

“It’s nothing, we’re leaving.

Well, I heard him clear enough.

I’m really glad that I’m partnered up with Kitora.

I’m sure he came to pick me up. His sturdy back looked like it belonged to a large carnivorous beast, and I followed it down the corridor with a small smile on my face.

“Wait, Kitora! If you’re tired from running, we can take it easy on our way back.”

A few steps in front of me. I suddenly looked out the window and swallowed my words.

“What… ?”

I stopped and faced the window head-on, confirming that it wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

I could see a faint shadow of a person on the roof of the building opposite. As if that weren’t creepy enough, that shadow was on the wrong side of the fence… meaning it stood in a precarious position!

The building across the street was lower in height than this building. There were no obstructions and from my vantage point on the third floor, I could see the rooftop rather clearly.

It was a human being, no matter how you looked at it!

While I couldn’t make out the expression on their face, I could clearly see something was wrong with them.

[I heard that her mother passed away a few days before… ]

“What?”

Something Kusaka-sensei said offhandedly suddenly came back to hit me like a basketball to the face.

No way. No way, no way, no way.

In an instant, my mind went into overdrive. Alarm bells were ringing loudly, telling me that this situation was dangerous no matter what I thought.

I don’t think it’s possible, but isn’t that girl trying to chase after her mother right now… ?

Before I could make up my mind, I turned on my heel and broke out into a full sprint. Acting completely on instinct, I hurried as fast as I could. If I didn’t go to her right now, something was telling me it would be too late.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Kitora grabbed my arm tightly and held me back. He had finally found me, and all of a sudden I tried to escape.

“Kitora, let me go! Look at that, look at that!”

“Is that… ?”

His golden eyes widened in surprise.

“I have to stop her! I have to go right now and stop that girl!”

“Calm down! Is that someone you know?”

“No, but… I need to talk to her! Anyway, if we don’t go right now, it might be too late!”

Kitora hadn’t let go of my arm yet, and I couldn’t move from my spot. It’s a long way to the other side of the building, then to the rooftop, so I had to run as fast as I could.

“I’m really sorry for making you look for me, but you should head back first! I’ll find my way back later!”

I almost shouted at him, but he clicked his tongue briefly, and then, instead of letting me go, he squeezed my arm tighter.

“What?”

It’s not that I didn’t like this feeling, but it was uncomfortable at the same time.

The red haze descended on me and a faint scent of sweat tickled my nostrils. Then he put his arms around my waist and…

“What are you doing, Kitora?”

“Don’t make so much noise up close. We need to hurry.”

He hugged me tightly with one hand and roughly opened the window.

What?

“Oh? I’m going to fly up there.”

“Fly?!?!”

What are you talking about, you punk?

“We’re on the third floor! It’s impossible, what are you talking about?”

“I can fly over a short distance with levitation and wind attribute magic. I think I can make it up there in one go.”

“I can’t! I can’t… I can’t do this anymore!”

The urgency to hurry there as quickly as possible had completely vanished. All I felt now was fear. I looked down, and the ground was so far away that my head spun.

“Don’t do anything funny. Also, hold on to my clothes and arms tightly. I’ll never let you go, so if you’re scared, just shut your eyes.”

He whispered in my ear, not caring that I was scared stiff. I wasn’t prepared, but the confidence in his voice made me feel less scared and less overwhelmed.

“I believe in you, Kitora!”

I sniffed. Then, as soon as I heard the signal from Kitora, air rushed by, shaking my eardrums, and my body escaped the clutches of gravity.

“Ah!”

The only sound that dominated my hearing was the fluttering of my clothes and hair in the roaring wind. I held back the desire to scream and clamped my lips together tightly.

As he had declared, his arms held me tightly, and their pressure was the only grounding force that kept my mind steady. I was afraid to even imagine what kind of state I was in, so I refused to open my eyes and just kept them screwed shut.

“… Hey, we’re here.”

The journey felt like it took hours, but only a few seconds had passed in this darkness.

As if guided by the voice, I forced my eyes open and finally realized that I was on solid ground. I also realized that his arm was still around my waist, so I hurriedly pushed myself away.

As I stepped on the roof, I looked around and saw the gray concrete tiles and the dirty water tower, surrounded by a rusty, reddish-bronze fence.

And she stood on the other side of the fence.

“… Hiiragi Yukino-san.”

A woman stared at me with empty eyes that reflected nothing.

“Hello… Nobana Mitsuba-san.”

----

Chapter brought to you by The Patrons.

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ANIMT - Chapter 44. On the Rooftop

I Got An Extra Six Months of Life Expectancy, And Now It’s My Time

She has a slender body and silvery-white hair that flows down to her waist. Her gray eyes remind me of glasswork, and she gave off the feeling of a flower that could be easily be trampled.

While I was certain that this was the first time actually meeting Hiiragi Yukino, some subconscious part of myself disagreed. It was as if we had met once, a long time ago.

“Nobana Mitsuha… together with your partner Futaki Kitora, I see.”

It was impossible to read any emotion from her as she leaned against the rusty fence, twisting her body around to look at me quietly. Her calm and composed appearance was unbearably eerie.

I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t help but step back, causing her to say “Don’t worry,” in a monotonous tone.

“I have neither the will nor reason to kill you anymore, as you should probably know already. I’m sure you’re aware of most of the things that have happened and what I’ve done to you. If you don’t mind, though, can you tell me how much you know?”

When she said kill, I sensed Kitora quivering with rage behind my back. Even though I felt guilty for dropping Kitora, a non-related person, into the middle of this, I didn’t hold back and shared everything I knew.

I knew.

I knew that she was related to the laboratory that took away the source of my magic power. And that her mother developed the drug using my power. As well as knowing that the magic power they stole from me was decreasing, as it made its way back into my body.

And finally, I also knew that she was the person who pushed me down the stairs.

“… Yes. You know that much, don’t you? You know so much about me, my sins, everything.”

Without moving an eyebrow, the woman donned a self-mocking smile. But still, there was no sign of life in her eyes. It was as if she had buried all of her emotions into the depths of the sea, restraining them so that they didn’t rise to the surface.

And because of that I can’t see her as human anymore. I can’t see anything but an unidentifiable, alien presence before me. I clenched my fists tightly as if the woman with the strange aura would swallow me up.

“I know. I know, and I’ve come to see you. I’ve come to see you and hear the truth from your mouth.”

“From my mouth, huh?”

The woman turned her gaze to the sky. The setting sun, falling on the woman’s white cheeks, was so beautiful it was almost frightening. And then, just like that, the woman muttered to herself, “Oh well.”

“I still had an obligation to talk to you one last time. I have to tell you everything from start to finish. Certainly not until I’ve done that, can I then jump from here.”

As I thought, she was willing to die.

She whipped around suddenly, her long hair flowing out like a wave. Then opened her mouth in a strange fashion, as if she had no choice.

“Where should I start? Well, let me start from the beginning and tell you how I got involved with the institute.”

The woman, Hiiragi Yukino, then began to tell me everything I wanted to know, more easily than I had expected, in an unhurried, machine-like tone.

The truth about me and her, including the history we shared that I had forgotten, and about herself, the person called Hiiragi Yukino.

“My mother, Hiiragi Yikika, was a magic researcher, and she was working on the magic awakening drug as a personal project. My father was a non-magical person who innocently longed for magic. He passed away when I was very young, and my mother continued her research in pursuit of his dream. She was weak of body but very intelligent and ended up raising me alone. I respect her very much.”

“My mother is all I have in the world,” said Hiiragi Yukino in a voice that seemed to fade into the void.

“All you have in the world, huh?” whispered Kitora. Although he’s been listening intently, there’s something strange about the way Kitora keeps whispering to himself, like he’s having another conversation entirely.

“When I was in the 4th grade of elementary school, she was contacted by a research faculty. They said that they had spent a long time researching the same medicine she had been working on. After coming to our house several times to discuss it, my mother eventually took them up on their offer.”

“So she became an employee of the institute?”

“Yes. But after that, she went to the institute and never came back. The only people taking care of me were some researchers from the facility. So I just dealt with it, so as to not inconvenience my mom. And the researchers who came over were always whispering to me: ‘You have a high aptitude for magic. When you awaken your power, you’ll be able to help with your mother’s research. You might be able to do something very important which would make your mother very happy. She will praise you.’”

It was a line that must have been ingrained in her brain, and the way she spoke it was as if she were reciting a poem she had memorized.

“When I entered junior high and awakened my magical power, I started to do what they called the ‘job.’ I took away the source of magic power from people who were on the list of magic donors and erased their memories. Despite the low level of difficulty of these two forbidden spells, it seemed like no one had been able to use them for a long time. I was, though. In addition to having a good aptitude for those spells, I always succeeded at the tasks I thought would be useful to my mother. I’ve used forbidden magic many times, and I’ve taken magic from many people on the list.”

As usual, her narrative was devoid of emotion, but she had yet to say anything I didn’t already know. The woman’s deep affection for her mother was clear from the words themselves, but I could also feel a sincerity behind them.

What came to mind was Mr. Umetaro’s story. He was able to use forbidden magic for the board chairman. It seems like a strong will to do it for someone else’s sake is an absolute prerequisite to being able to use forbidden spells.

However, even with a low level of danger and difficulty, there must be some sort of price she had to pay. In addition, the woman used two forbidden magic repeatedly for at least the number of people on the list. Even if the price was low in the beginning, it would stack up and she would surely lose something important as a result.

In Umetaro’s case, it was his magic power and years of his life.

Wait, but now that I remember:

“You’re supposed to be sickly, right?”

“I lied when I said I was sickly. Unlike my mother, I’m in good health.”

“What?”

“It was more convenient for me to be sickly. It’s easier for me to extract myself from school with such an excuse, and it also makes it easier to get time off for other reasons. The documents I submitted to the school were forged by the laboratory. And as for the amount of magic power I needed to cast those spells… ”

With her pale hand, she pointed at her chest.

“I used the magic I took to make up for what I lacked.”

“Ah!”

‘So that’s how it was,’ I thought to myself. But at the same time, from the realization of how many people’s magic power is wriggling inside her body, I felt chilled to the bone.

“And among those people you stole magic from, it was this girl’s magic that was used as the raw ingredient for the drug, right?”

Kitora, who was silent this whole time, asked that question with a very low, almost growling voice. He understood all that from the information he was given here. Yes, he was a smart boy after all.

“That’s right. I came into contact with you when I was down to the last half of my list. It was easy to get close. I clung to you on the street and pretended to be sick, and you practically did the rest.”

[“Are you okay?”]

[“Let’s go to the park and rest, I will accompany you there.”]

[“Oh, are you going to show me some magic as a reward?”]

After that, even though I am supposed to have no memories of those events, for a moment, I recalled a few moments on that fateful day. The images were grainy and filled with signal noise like a TV with poor reception.

“What a wonderful ingredient that I finally found. I knew that the moment I put my hands on your magic source. If anything I was happy to help my mom achieve her dearest wish before I reached my limit. Realizing that made me smile for the first time in a while.”

“That limit is the cost for using forbidden magic, isn’t it?”

I needed to suppress my emotions and remain calm now. Letting my emotions run out of control would cloud my judgment and prevent me from finding the truth I sought. I told myself not to get shaken, to endure, to be calm, and wait for her response.

“… ”

“At first, I started hearing sounds. They were not real, nor did they occur often, and were only inside my head. I managed to fool myself into thinking that I wouldn’t mind paying this price and continued to use those forbidden spells. Then, gradually, the sound turned into a voice.”

“A voice… ”

“The first time I heard it clearly was in middle school. When I was injured by a classmate who was harassing me, the voice commanded me to ‘fight back, crush him’ and I lost consciousness. When I came to my senses all I saw was a terrible spectacle.”

That’s the story that Matsuri-senpai told me.

“I think the source of that voice is all the different magical energy sources I have in my body. Something like an embodiment of an alternative consciousness. I confirmed it for myself after realizing that the moments I hear the voices I get a weird tingling sensation in my chest. That consciousness would stir up all the deep negative emotions in my mind. And as a result of losing my reasoning, I would lose control over my thoughts and body. Isn’t that ironic? All the magic sources I stole are now stealing my own body and thoughts.”

“So that is… ”

“Yeah, the price of using forbidden magic, was losing a part of my own ego and control over my own body.”

Unlike Umetaro’s case, her payment wasn’t something that was easy to see. She didn’t lose a part of her body, but the price was a part of her sanity. A price that was hard to identify from an outsider’s perspective.

But that may be a suitable price for a spell that interferes with someone’s brain to erase their memories. They have to connect to another person’s human psyche, and on top of that, they are stripping away their source of magical power, hidden in the deepest part of a human.

“The frequency of the voices I hear varies, and they shake me without warning. But if I keep myself strong and alert, I can manage to get rid of the voices before they take control of my body. It takes a lot of mental strength, but that’s how I’ve gotten by since the first outbreak.”

One of the best ways of coping with such a situation might be not showing any strong emotions, and resisting any suggestion the voices offer in turbulent situations.

I gazed at the woman’s still, expressionless profile in the reddish-purple sunlight, and such thoughts popped into my head.

“But resisting like this is a temporary stalemate. I will inevitably reach my limit someday. It will take over everything once and for all, and I will never be able to return to normal. I will lose consciousness and turn into a completely irrational, violent, and ruthless version of myself. When that happens, it won’t be me anymore. And I have a feeling that it won’t be long before that day comes. I’ve always been afraid of this.”

Her diary came to mind. I recalled where she wrote about her inner fears with eerie desperation. The last sentence was, “I’m becoming less and less myself… I have no more time.”

I can’t understand what’s going on in her head. It was impossible for me to relate to her condition, nor could I picture myself not being me.

I don’t understand, or maybe I don’t want to understand.

Whether it be for the sake of her mother, or for any other reason, looking at what she had done, I couldn’t feel sorry for her.

She had taken my life, so I simply couldn’t.

However, there was one thing that continued to bother me. Even while fighting the voices, she continued to use forbidden magic, even after meeting me, a source of magic power. She had long passed the point of danger at that time, so why would she continue eroding her consciousness?

Even after she stole from me, she probably continued working hard to make the medicine. She’s been working for the institute and her mother for a long time, after all. She has devoted most of her time and energy to the research institute and her mother.

----I wonder if she managed to get the kind of love she craved from her beloved mother?

“But I decided to work for my mother until the very last minute before I could hold out no longer. There have been three times in my life when I have completely let go of my consciousness. The first time was during that class. The second time, when I pushed you down those stairs.”

“What?”

Suddenly, Kitora shouted loudly in agitation. As if he had been wounded to the core. He was the one who took us both to the roof with a zap. So I couldn’t say he was entirely uninvolved with this matter, but I didn’t want to see him hurt for no reason.

“I’m not interested in hearing your sob story in the slightest, but I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that. Tell me exactly what you did to her.”

“Kitora… ”

At the edge of my vision, I saw his hair, burning with the setting sun. The sight left me speechless.

“After I finished extracting the source of your magic power, I moved on to making medicine. It took a lot of work to sort out and extract it from your body, but it was a great leap forward in the development of medicine. I hadn’t seen my mother in years at that point, but she wrote me a letter saying that she was very pleased with my achievements.”

“So you never saw your mother, even after you started working there?”

“My mother was in a special research facility, so it was not easy for me to see her, even as her daughter. But a few times a month, I received a letter from her. “I’m too busy to see you, but I am very happy to hear that you are helping me with my research. You are my pride and joy, my daughter. If you succeed in developing the drug, we can live together again as mother and daughter. In order to do that, let’s work hard for research together.” The paper I received from her and the words written on them were the only support I had.”

I’m not sure if it was my imagination or not, but I think I saw a glimmer of emotion reflect in her eyes.

“After entering this high school, I continued to use transfer magic to go back and forth to the laboratory after school to continue manufacturing medicine. I still couldn’t see my mother, but I could still hear the voices from time to time. I blocked them out by burying myself in my work. But in my third year of high school, I noticed something strange in my body, in my magical power.”

“That something… happened to be me... right?”

“Yes. The source of your magic power, which is a valuable medicine and ingredient, was slowly disappearing from my body. When I found out, I panicked. If I didn’t do something about it, I wouldn’t be able to continue making the medicine. I’d be back to square one, and I’d disappoint my mother. I had to solve this problem on my own as soon as possible before anyone found out about it. One day, driven by such frustration and fear, I was desperate to find out the cause of the problem.”

The tone of voice of Yuki Hiragi-san became faster as if she was being chased.

And with that, my memory rapidly went back to that day.

I felt my back being pushed. A sudden feeling of weightlessness. Pain assaulting my body. My vision fading to black.

The approaching moment of death.

“… I found you sitting on the stairs.”

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ED: Purplemen101

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TL Note: Mald Frogs Club tries to capture the intent of the author when translating these chapters. This is not a literal translation and we can not guarantee the accuracy of it. We re-structure sentences to improve the flow and if we spot what appears to be an obvious error, we fix it as we go.