The Illness of a Girl Ending the World
Long ago, my world was a very peaceful one.
Before my little sister contracted that 《Strange Disease》, it was very, very peaceful.
"I'm going to become my big brother's future bride!"
Everyday, my little sister would fool around like that and show me her dazzling smile.
But my little sister contracted an illness.
At a certain research center.
A certain treatment facility.
"Onii-chan. Onii-chan," said my little sister.
"Onii-chan...... I love you, Onii-chan."
My little sister beamed.
Despite the fact that she was smiling, her body was trembling.
Smiling, trembling.
Smiling, trembling.
Her tears were flowing.
The tears from her right eye were red.
Those from her left eye blue.
Even her left and right eyes were blue and red respectively.
"Shinnosuke! Your little sister...... Saki, she won't make it! Kill her!"
The adults behind me were screaming.
I could not move.
I could not move.
Although I was holding a knife in my right hand, I could not stab that soft flesh of my little sister.
Isn't it natural? She's my only little sister.
"Shinnosuke! Please! It's the Labyrinth Disease! If you leave it alone, the tens of thousands of humans living in this area will all die......"
His voice ended there.
Because he died.
Because he was touched by the sickness that my little sister contracted, and died.
The owner of the voice was probably my uncle. My uncle, who was researching that sickness. But he died.
My little sister killed him.
The others, the academy magicians who had come to dispose of my little sister, were also all killed.
The labyrinth was spreading from beneath my little sister's feet.
Her sickness was an abnormal sickness that gave birth to the 《Labyrinth》 in her surroundings, enveloping and changing the world.
The labyrinth was spreading in the world.
Inside the labyrinth, some unknown power or Being stirred, erasing the humans. Except me, all other humans had been swallowed up by the labyrinth, obliterated.
My little sister said with a slightly sad look, "Since they were too late in dealing with me...... the tens of thousands of people are already dead, Onii-chan."
"...... Will you, kill me too?"
She shook her head.
"Since I love you very much, Onii-chan, if it's now, I shall let you escape. But there's only about a minute left, I guess. I can only remain myself for one more minute. Farewell, Onii-chan."
The time limit was one minute.
"No. Let's escape together."
"Ah-haha, where to? The sickness is reproducing inside me. Forty more seconds."
Forty seconds.
"Saki!"
"Goodbye Onii-chan. I love you."
"I'll definitely save you......"
"Don't force yourself. I won't make it. I think I'm going to disappear......"
"No! I'll definitely save you!"
I stretched out my hand.
I desperately stretched out my hand.
I caught hold of her arm.
My little sister's eyes widened in surprise.
Both her color-changed eyes gleamed.
"Don't touch me! You'll...... you'll catch my sickness......"
"Shut up! That doesn't matter! I'm your big brother! I'm supposed to protect you! I'll definitely, save you......"
But at that moment, I could feel the sickness within my little sister invading my arm. My right arm suddenly felt heavy and languid.
"Stop!"
My little sister shouted in a shrill voice and brushed off my arm. I was sent flying. I landed headfirst and couldn't move because of the hard landing.
My little sister said with an anxious look, "...... Aah...... Aah, what should we do? You got infected with some of it. Some of the Apocalypse that's inside my head. But the time's already up. I can no longer remain myself. Bye bye, Onii-chan."
She waved. What was beneath her feet became infected by the sickness and rapidly became the labyrinth.
I cried out.
"Don't screw with me! I'll definitely...... I'll definitely save you!"
But into the darkness.
Into the labyrinth. My little sister disappeared.
And thus, I was the only one who survived.
* * *
Chapter 1 - The Transfer Student with a Bad Personality
My little sister has been gone ten years.
I'm already seventeen years old.
A high school student's summer.
A classroom.
The blazing rays of the sun.
From the balcony, the view of a common schoolyard can be seen.
The boys and girls from the normal curriculum, clad in their summer uniforms, are smiling at one another happily.
Looking at that peaceful scene, "...... The trash are living with a trashy face huh."
With half-opened eyes, I murmur sneeringly with the corner of my lip raised in a slightly sardonic manner.
As I do that, a voice from the side speaks to me.
"Who are you referring to as trash?"
It is a female voice.
"Contrary to your docile appearance, you have quite the nasty tongue huh."
I turn my eyes in the direction of the voice.
There, standing beside me, is a girl I did not know.
She is in a sailor uniform. With madder red hair and fair skin. Eyes with large irises. Perspiration lines her neck.
"Who?" I ask, to which she replies.
"Are you asking my name? Or my number?"
She asks, smiling despite being the one who called out to me.
By the way, we are on the balcony of a classroom of 『Metropolitan Kichijouji High』 in Tokyo. I am there to take a transfer interview examination.
Right now in the classroom, there are about fifteen guys and girls waiting for their names to be called.
I look into the classroom, and after ascertaining that there were still more than ten people remaining, ask "Has my name already been called?"
She smiled.
"I don't even know your name, so how would I know whether your name has been called?"
"Then why did you come out of the classroom? It's hot here, isn't it?"
"I can't deal well with air-conditioners."
"Fuuhn."
"And I'm not good with making friends either."
She gazes into the classroom with a bored look. In the classroom, students are waiting nervously for their interviews, their backs erect.
"At any rate, only a few of the people inside can enroll in the school. Besides, even after getting in a number of them will die, right?" she says suddenly.
A number of them will die.
That's right.
This is that kind of school.
But I smile and say, "So talking to me doesn't count as making friends, I guess?"
"Uhm, I'm just showing pity, I suppose?"
"Ah?"
"You don't seem like you have any friends. So I came to talk to you."
What a shitty, unnecessary favor.
I look at her in exasperation and say, "I see. Putting aside how many friends I have, at the very least I don't have the confidence of making friends with a girl like you."
"Ah-haha. You really are pretty brash despite your docile look."
"Not as much as you."
"Ah-ha."
Laughing, she stretches he
r hand out to me.
"I'm Kiryuu Kiri. If I manage to get in, please look out for me."
I look down with half-lidded eyes at that slender, arrogant hand that was demanding a handshake, then once again turn my eyes to the schoolyard. I take out the headphone specially used with my right ear, and affixed it.
"Hey, don't ignore me. You won't be able to make any friends with that kind of attitude you know?"
Shut up, I think, no longer bothering to reply.
Music starts flowing from my headphone. The streaming music stimulates my brain stem intensely.
As before, Ah-haha, Kiri laughs. A strange woman.
At that moment, a faint voice came from the classroom.
"......nosuke. Arisu Shinnosuke, are you here?"
No one answers. Obviously. Since Arisu Shinnosuke is my name.
From beside me, Kiri laughs with deep interest.
"Ah~, I know your name now, Shinnosuke-kun."
"............"
"Sensei is calling you. If you don't go, you might not be able to get into this school. Or is it that the music from your headphone is too loud and you can't even hear my voice?"
"My left ear is empty," I reply.
I push my back off the railing of the balcony, and open the window to the classroom.
The teacher looks at me and asked, "Are you Arisu Shinnosuke?"
"Yes."
"We're going to do your transfer interview. Come."
I nodded, and leave the classroom.
From behind, Kiri's voice rings out, "Do your best, okay~. It'd be nice if we meet again."
I'm not the least bit interested.
Ignoring her, I close the classroom door.
♦
Nothing but a name, the Interview Room is just a normal classroom.
There are four interviewers. Men and women in their early twenties.
All four of them are seated, their pens running across what appeared to be documents on their desks.
One of them, a woman, asks me, "Your name is Arisu Shinnosuke. Seventeen. Transferring from Sangenchaya High. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
I nod.
I smirk with half-opened eyes.
Right now, I wear the school uniform of Sangenchaya High.
"During middle school, you were abroad but ——— what were you doing there?"
"I was just a rather normal middle school student."
"Haha, I don't think a rather normal middle school student would come to this school though."
"Really?"
"This is a school where you might die, you know?"
"I know."
"The students here put their lives on the line and work hard to kill young girls to save the world."
"Yes."
"Then the reason why you chose this school is because you want to save the world?"
I shake my head at that question.
"No."
"Because you are a patriot?"
"Not that."
"Then what?"
"Purely for money. Because this school pays based on ability. To be honest, I don't care about what happens to the world."
"............"
"Ah, or is it that you are looking for the passionate type? If that's the case I can also act like that, you know? Aah, I really want to save the world," I say in a monotone and the female teacher waves her hand in displeasure.
"We don't need you to do that. Answer honestly."
"Then, it's for money. Fame. Power. I have no interest in other things."
The teachers start whispering among themselves. Their pens run across the documents. Perhaps they are writing, "Someone with a terribly bad personality showed up." Or maybe it is something like, "It's really good that he's honest"?
Well, whatever it is, it doesn't matter to me.
The female teacher says, "Well then, we are going to evaluate your ability."
"Here?"
"Yes. This time, the vacancies number four. The number of people taking the test number seven hundred and twenty. Which means most will fail. Especially those who have impure motives and only have eyes for money, like you."
"Ohh. That will be problematic~"
I smirk.
The female teacher says, "Then we shall begin. Sakuma-sensei."
The male teacher whose name was called stands.
While he stands, I snap the fingers of my right hand three times. That is the activation signal for the Headphone Fuzz《 Intra-Cerebral Magic Activator 》[1] affixed in my right ear.
A roaring sound streams from my headphone.
Rhythm.
Beat.
Melody.
Along with them, the cursed song jolts my brain stem intensely.
The curse fills the area responsible for memory, and as a result of that scattering, the memories in my brain are boosted and the preparations for using magic are completed.
Sakuma-sensei or something, also sticks a headphone in his ear. Sensei's right hand lights up with purple flames.
It is a magic drawn forth by his 《Headphone Fuzz》.
As expected of Sensei.
His activation is fast.
Well, that's all there is to it though.
Sakuma-sensei grins broadly and says, "In this school, people die even during interviews."
"Is that so?"
"You might die. You have been smirking and making light of us for quite a while; that kind of attitude pisses me off."
"Haah. Sorry about that."
"Then, shall we start?"
"Sensei, please feel free to come at me."
While saying that, as if picking up the rhythm ——— as if I was waving a conductor's baton, the finger of my right hand dances in mid-air. Doing that causes three-dimensional light to swim in the air. With that light, I manipulate my 《Headphone Fuzz》.
I can load six magic songs into the 《Headphone Fuzz》 that I can select from. I select one of the available songs and activate the 'acceleration' song.
Looking at my moving finger, the female teacher cries out, "Sakuma-sensei, be careful! This kid is using a magic art brought back from the high level 《Flash-Node Labyrinth》......"
But it's already too late.
My gray matter is already filled with the song of magic.
From the headphone, the cursed piece continues to replay in my mind. Repeatedly, repeatedly, the curse is gently sung to me.
【In an instant ♪ In a flash ♪ In the time of a flash ♪
The flash of time, the flash of an instant ♪ In an instant ♪ In a flash ———】
I murmur, "...... Acceleration switch ———"
Clink, a switch flips in my body. Due to the magic activation. I can tell that my body is accelerated. I can only accelerate for one second, but that is plenty. I kick the floor. In an instant, I reach Sakuma-sensei and am right before his eyes. I take a knife out of the pocket of my uniform and place it against Sakuma-sensei's neck. I could have killed him, but...
"Oh my, did I miss the documents that would exempt me of responsibility in the event that I killed a teacher?"
Sakuma-sensei glares at me.
"Damn you......"
Ignoring him, I withdraw my knife. Kept it away.
Furthermore, I take a step back and say, "Aah, and I also brought a sharp object to school......"
The female teacher then replies, "If you need that as a weapon, then if you apply through the proper channels......"
"There won't be a problem?"
"Correct."
"Well then, I'll make the application once I'm accepted."
On hearing those words, the female teacher says, "What're you talking about? There's no way we will let a talent like you—who can overwhelm an interviewer—out of our grasp, right?"
I look at the female teacher with half-opened eyes and say, "In other words...?"
"You've passed. Welcome to 《Metropolitan Kichijouji High》. Let's save the world together," says the female teacher as she e
xtends her hand.
——— Let's save the world together.
On hearing that delightful response at my successful enrollment, I replied, "Erhm, I said this earlier, but...... I have no interest in the world so please spare me that. To be frank, it's stifling."
♦
Upon coming out of the interview classroom, the next interviewee looks at me and says in a familiar manner, "Orh, we meet again, Shinnosuke-kun. How did it go?"
It is Kiryuu Kiri, the girl who spoke to me earlier.
I look at Kiri and answer, "Nothing special."
"You got accepted?"
"Probably, I suppose."
"As expected, you are good."
"Which part of me makes you think that it's an 'expected' thing?"
"The moronic aloofness part."
"Ah-haha, you went and said it, huh."
I laugh and smirk sardonically.
"So, is someone like you any good?"
Kiri puffs out her chest and replies, "Well~, with my beauty, if I'm no good, then I would just be a girl with only outer beauty, right?"
I look at Kiri's face. She might indeed have a face that was a little well-featured. You could call her a beauty, I suppose. And her body is slender and, to top it off, her breasts are big.
I look at that bulging chest with half-opened eyes.
"...... Aah, you'd call that a brainless big-breasted woman, I suppose?"
"Ah-ha, if you get ahead of yourself I might end up killing you, you know, Mr. Aloof Bastard."
"Ha, try me, Miss Breast-Only Woman."
I snap my fingers three times. My 《Headphone Fuzz》 activates.
At the same time, a sound also comes from Kiri's fingers. She takes out a small headphone from her pocket.
Just from that movement alone I could tell that Kiri was stronger than that Sakuma-sensei. As to whether she was stronger than me... well, that would be a different story.
Kiri grins and says.
"Just kidding. Jokes aside, I'll see you later~, Shinnosuke-kun."
She opens the door.
"I'm Kiryuu Kiri. Please look kindly on me during this interview."
The classroom disappears.
She is really a strange woman. I didn't want to see her again for all the trouble it would cost. Fail the interview, woman.
I stop the sound from the headphone. And sigh. Then turn around and continue down the corridor.
No one is in the corridor.