Part 126: The Sweet World of Witches

Silent. Black. Cold. Painful.
Rosa regained consciousness bit by bit... And the first thing she thought... was that it would have been better if she hadn't. After all, with her body this cold and hurting, the pain grew the more her consciousness returned. It felt like she'd been sleeping on ice-cold marble in the darkness, lying face-down for a long time.
...Aaah, this is why I always tell myself. Even if its just for a nap, I've got to at least grab a sofa. I know that, if I naively try to close my eyes for just a second...and end up sleeping on the floor or in the study chair, it'll hurt my body later and make things difficult... Since I slept on such a cold and hard floor, even my bones are ice-cold. Since I slept on such a hard and cold floor, the half of my face pressed down against it hurts a lot. If I were to look in a mirror right now, I'm sure I'd see an embarrassing mark. I didn't think that just rubbing it would make that mark disappear, but I stroked the hurting side of my face anyway, trying to smooth it over...

I thought it was pitch black, but it looks like it isn't. After all, I can faintly see my own body. Without a doubt, there was some source of light, but even if I looked up at the ceiling... or else the sky, there was only an expanse of blackness, and I couldn't see a proper light. My body alone was slightly lit, whereas everything else was sunk in darkness... That's what this world was like.
It was almost as though Rosa alone had been abandoned in a forgotten world. As her mind grew clearer, she started getting nervous about why she was all alone in a lonely place like this. When she was about to call out, asking if anyone was there, she heard the patter of footsteps coming towards her. They were light footsteps, so she thought it was probably a kid. She didn't sense anything disturbing, so she wasn't afraid. But they also weren't Maria's footsteps, so, wondering who in the world would be in a darkness like this, she stared in the direction the footsteps were coming from.
...As she did, a faint, approaching silhouette came into view.

...Who is it? I don't know this kid. But, the expression on his face was like a lost child separated from his parents. As a parent with a daughter herself, Rosa felt as though her chest had been torn apart...


The instant the kid muttered that infantile word, she felt pain in the half of her face that had started hurting from the cold floor, as though it had been pierced by long, thin, hard needles. Without thinking, she pressed her hand against that side of her face.



That child took my other hand and pulled with a grim expression on his face.
Rosa didn't have a clue what was going on. However, a single honest expression on a child... can often tell the truth better than a hundred words from an adult. She didn't know the situation, but even so, she dashed along with him, still being pulled...

...Even though she was running, she couldn't even feel any wind. It was as though she was still inside a nightmare, that kind of unreal sensation...
So even though I ran, I couldn't maintain my sense of balance, and my legs got tangled and I fell. Even in a world that didn't feel real, the pain of smashing my face against the cold, hard floor was reality itself.


...When the kid said that... infantile word 'uryu', pain like being stuck with needles ran though my head again. Even though it had only happened twice, I was somehow able to understand that the child's word was the cause of my pain. So I said so frankly.




I had the feeling that this child's apology caused a sharp pain in my forehead this time.
What is... this child...? I know there's no malice in him, but when I'm around this child, my head hurts...




That child stared at me with round eyes. This kid's Mama... is me...? Who? Who is... this kid? I don't remember at all.


I suddenly grew nervous about Maria not being there. Why am I all alone in a place like this? Where is Maria?! I'm only able to be me because Maria's there for me...!



That child pulled on my hand again. He was probably pulling me in the opposite direction from Maria. So I stopped walking.





When I knocked his hand away without thinking... and looked at my palm... a hole the size of a thumb had opened there, and deep-red blood gushed out. It was a hole so big that I could see through to the other side...

Sakutarou noticed my wound and panicked. As far as I could tell by looking at him, he couldn't understand why my hand had sustained a serious injury. But in my eyes, it felt like I'd been injured because he'd grabbed my hand. Regardless of whether there was malice in him, I understood that this child was something that would do harm to me, and he instantly seemed eerie...



It gaped open, and pitch-black insides peeked out. No blood poured from it. Only an empty blackness peeked out. Then, from the insides of the gash, cotton snow poured out, and as bits of cotton scattered, he slumped over. Then, all that remained was a crumpled yellow cloth... and bits of cotton that looked like sticky, crushed cotton candy. A lion... stuffed animal.
Without a doubt. These were the remains of the Sakutarou stuffed animal I tore apart on that day, while overcome by my emotions. The instant I realized that, a long, sharp shriek that could rupture an eardrum tore the world apart...

BGM: Requiem
Like a flood from a broken dam, or like a broken TV... Maria cried out in a high-pitched voice. Her voice, which made the ears throb, brought up two emotions in me... One was regret, 'Yeah, I was overcome by my emotions and went overboard'. It was a mother's desire to kneel down right away, hold Maria's head, cry with her and apologize.
...In actual fact, I did that right away. I held Maria's head and apologized, crying. But Maria didn't stop crying. On the contrary, she rejected me, the one who had torn her closest friend apart, and pushed me away forcefully with both hands. I had been on my knees in an unnatural position, so I fell backwards easily. Maria scraped together the yellow scraps of cloth and cotton bits, buried her face in them, and cried even more...
Watching that, another emotion welled up. It welled up rapidly. And then, it burst. After all, she refused to make up with me even though I'd apologized, and there was nothing else I could do now anyway, and it was all Maria's fault in the first place...!! Since she's too busy playing with stuffed animals all the time like this, she can't make any friends, and that's why people treat her like a freak...!! This is a perfect opportunity to give her some instructive guidance! After all, it's not like I was pampered all the time...!! Everything eventually breaks, is stolen, is destroyed by someone! Even I had lots of toys and treasures stolen, broken, mocked, and thrown away by my brothers and sister and Father and Mother...!! But when I cried about that, while I might have shed a few tears, not once did I sob like this and trouble my parents, throw a tantrum, get mad, hit the floor and kick and make a racket...!! Even though I always wanted to, I thought I'd get in more trouble if I did, so I always, always held it back.

At that moment, I felt something strange. The same feeling as when you use a tool recklessly, and it finally breaks, so that only the base is left. But I wasn't using a tool. I'd just been repeatedly hitting Maria's head with both hands.
So, I looked at my hands.

BGM: Miragecoordinator
As though only that part of my arms had become ceramic. No, as though all of me from the wrists onwards had suddenly become ceramic, and had broken and fallen. They must have gotten filled with cracks because I hit Maria too much... before falling off. After all, look, aren't both of my wrists lying smashed by my feet...?

There was no pain. But the shocking sight of my hands breaking off from the wrists onwards made me scream...


Ignoring my confusion, Maria spoke with an icy voice, slowly moving her hands away from her head, where they had been defending against my barrage...

Behind Maria's back, a black silhouette had appeared. It was the silhouette of an adult. Who?!











Part 127: The Sweet World of Witches II

In that instant, invisible, massive arms stuck their fingernails out and tightly grasped Rosa's entire body. As the bones all over her body made a sound like twigs being stepped on, they cracked readily and broke apart.
...Rosa had understood vaguely. The massive arms were probably... her own arms, from the time she'd torn Sakutarou apart. From a stuffed animal's perspective, her arms certainly would have been this massive. So she could imagine what would happen next. The sharp nails stuck deep into the base of her neck, and she heard the skin tearing with her own ears. Then, as the two witches watched over her, Rosa's flesh was split in two, top and bottom.
When Sakutarou had been torn apart, bits of cotton had flown about like snowflakes. But in Rosa's case, something like black, thick tar came out, filthily flying all over the place. There wasn't even a trace of the red of blood. It was something black, filthy and thick. It was probably what a bloodless, tearless human kept inside their body.


When Beatrice brandished her pipe cane, gold butterflies seeped up and restored Rosa's broken flesh in an instant...





...Staying over for work again...? Looks like work is tough for you again today, Mama...

...Yeah. I understand. I'll be a good girl and watch over the house, so do your best at work, finish it quickly, and come back, okay...?

I don't need cake. Instead of taking time to go to the cake store, I'd be happier if you came home that much sooner.

...Yeah, promise. I'll be waiting. Do your best at work, Mama...





But you know what? Sakutarou scolded me, saying that it wasn't true. Every day, Mama was very busy with work. There was no way she'd abandon Maria and play. He said that the person who told us Mama had the day off must've made some kind of mistake...! That's what Sakutaro said. So I believed it. I believed it! I love Mama, love her...! Of course, Mama says that she loves me, loves me!!

Rosa let out a deep sigh. Maybe she felt the weight of her words.
Then, she set the receiver on the bedside phone down. The dark room made the starry sky on the ground below the window stand out even more beautifully. On the table in front of the terrace was a very cold wine cooler, and the one she shared a glass with was gazing at the scene below...




The slender, middle-aged man clad in a white robe gave a small sigh. Rosa reacted instantly to that slight action...




























Maria's face was still stiff... If the words really had been blades, Maria's whole body would probably be stained red with fresh blood by now. Even after gaining the power of a witch and resolving herself to take revenge for Sakutaro, she couldn't stand these curses coming out of her mother's mouth...






As Rosa howled, in a way that can only be described by the word 'splat', her upper body was crushed, and in an instant, became something similar to a wrung, bloodstained towel.


...Even though Rosa's waist and below was standing normally, just the upper half of her body had been pinched, and that extreme contrast was bizarre. Then, she fell over, but the instant she fell, her body was restored.




Maria's howl was adorned with the ugly sound of flesh and bone being crushed at the same time... As Rosa, who had foully insulted Maria, lay spread-eagled, a neat, perfect circle was cut out of her chest and crushed, as though her chest had been trampled by an invisible elephant. Her heart and her lungs and her ribs were trampled so mercilessly that they were completely indistinguishable. It might have symbolized the pain in Maria's heart up until today.



When Beato waved her cane, the body was restored again, and Rosa sat up, coughing violently in apparent pain... And once again, she spat out curses rejecting Maria.



...Maria screamed. Was she unable to bear her anger and sadness? Or else, had she been taken over by an indescribable emotion...? It was surely... a cry of hopelessness.
And yet, it was a reality that had to be accepted. Maria knew. She knew that she was thought of as a burden. But even though she herself had known that, she didn't believe it. She'd believed that her mother loved her... and had done her best to positively interpret several events that could have made her doubt this, trusting and clinging to her mother's love. But, she had no one except Mama. Even so, she really did like Mama... and wanted to return to the days when she'd believed that Mama loved her...
So she howled...

I'll deny the mother who says these things, the black witch who makes her say them, and... the part of myself that can't forgive my mother...!!! But I can't deny it! This is reality, fact, the truth, the answer. Without any mistake, this is absolute... reality!!
Maria turned Rosa into a lump of meat over and over. Over and over, in the dark world that reflected her heart, rang the ugly sound of flesh and bone being torn apart, which would make anyone want to cover their ears... Each time, Beatrice revived Rosa. She dragged her back into the world of endless torture, which could not be escaped from even by death. This was the true, deepest hell that the Endless Witch Beatrice could create.
However, this world was not made endless by Beatrice's will. Because every time Rosa turned into a lump of meat, she asked the same question to Maria.




Revive over and over again. Return to a meat lump over and over again. In various ways, she crushed, smashed, beat, and tore to bits. Flying blood spatter and flesh turned the once pitch-black world into a world with mixed red and black. Maria's anger still hadn't calmed down. It was as though she was spitting out all of the suppressed rage from the time of her birth until today. If that all became poison to her heart...
Then would the repeated murder of her mother purify her soul...? Would even this wasteful murder save her soul, at least a little bit...? This endless torture... might have become a slight diversion from her sad, unrewarded life. After all, it seemed that she'd finally been able to regain her smile.



Half of her skull collapsed. Eyeballs flew out and black cranial fluid gushed. Fragments of teeth scattered.


Her whole chest along with her ribs turned inside out, exposing her filthy innards. All of them writhed, like some kind of impure creature.


Rosa couldn't laugh anymore. But her face was laughing. It was filled with a twisted laugh... and covered with a malice that rejected her unwanted daughter. I erased that laughing voice. Next, I'll erase that laughing face. I'll erase it, I'll crush it, I'll tear it to bits...!!
















Maria would probably forgive her mother eventually. After brutally murdering her countless times. Graciously.


Battler was looking at the dark night through a crack in the curtains. Every once in a while, a pale, white lightning bolt would shine, and he seemed to be enjoying it.



Maria was a bit hazy, with drowsy eyes. She was probably half-asleep and couldn't think straight.










Battler had only been trying to tease her a bit, so he was confused by this extreme overreaction. George held her head, trying to calm her down, but Maria's tantrum wasn't going to be quelled easily. Battler and Jessica were trying to push the blame on each other, saying 'It's your fault' 'It's your fault too'.


It looked like her tantrum was dying down bit by bit, but she still glared at Battler, who had made fun of her, with sharp eyes.


George noticed. Maria was staring at Battler with incredible eyes. And, despite having just displayed all that emotion, she laughed in a small voice.

Instead of a laugh, it seemed more like she was muttering while thinking about, or else counting, each 'hi'. As though each time she said 'hi', something brutal would happen over and over. George felt something creepy for just an instant, but he couldn't spot the madness that peeked out of the depths of the girl's eyes for just a moment.
After a short period of stunned silence on George's part, Maria stopped her bizarre, quiet laugh and pushed George's arm aside, as though telling him to let go.






One more time, Maria laughed in a creepy, quiet voice. But it was only for a very short time, so Battler and Jessica didn't think much of it. They decided to think that... it had probably only looked that way when the lightning lit her cheek with a pale, white light for an instant.
At that time, they could hear the sound of loud footsteps coming from the hall. It was already about 10:30, late at night. Late at night is usually a time when you aren't supposed to be disturbed. Hearing footsteps like that at this time was far from calming...

That clearly told them that this was an abnormal situation.


When George opened the door, the two of them tumbled in, sopping wet. It looked like they had dashed here from the mansion without an umbrella.


