Ding-dong─♪, ding-dong─♬.
“This world has a festival like this, huh? Of course, it feels a bit different… But, in the end, a place where people live is just a place where people live.”
Muttering such words, I looked around.
The festival hasn’t even started yet, but the world was already immersed in the festive atmosphere.
It felt just like the day before a school trip, bursting with excitement.
As children grasped colorful handbells and moved in groups, the streets resonated with a refreshing and beautiful melody.
A carol that started with one or two small hums spread like the aroma of delicious food, and soon the streets were enveloped in a grand harmony.
Regardless of being adults or children, everyone was celebrating today.
Just looking at it was a treat for the eyes, and just listening to it was a delight for the ears—truly a moment of festival.
Tap, tap!
“Wow! Elli Unnie, look here, look! It’s a tree with a giant star on it! What kind of tree is that?”
“With needle-like bark and sharp leaves… It must be a fir tree. The sweets on top look like sugar candies.”
“…Huh? Look, flowers! Hehe, let’s go, Elli Unnie!”
And it seemed that Alice was no exception.
Alice, who is twelve this year and will soon turn thirteen after the moon ends, might not seem very young by this era’s standards, but maybe it’s because it was her first festival.
Completely melted by the hot festive atmosphere, Alice was leading us around with a carefree smile.
Running around and holding Saelli’s arm as she busily checked out the stalls and the items for sale, Alice looked like a bold declaration of a child wanting to savor this moment forever.
“Alice. Be careful running around like that, it’s dangerous──”
“──Elli Unnie! Look at this, it’s a narcissus! Oh, there’s a camellia too!? Hehe. Aren’t they pretty?”
“….Yes. They’re really pretty.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what seemed so pretty to our Saelli.
Seeing her red-faced, even a hat couldn’t cover it up, I guessed the subject of her affection.
Trying to warn Alice who might slip on the icy road, Saelli wanted to speak carefully about the potential danger from running.
But as soon as Alice heard Saelli’s words, fully immersed in the sights around her, she excitedly continued her own chatter.
Wheeek!
“Ta-da~!”
Running to a vendor displaying flowers, Alice embraced the daffodils and camellias and turned to us with a smile.
In the festive atmosphere of Christmas, a white flower bud with green eyes blossomed in front of us.
“…..Well, I suppose today is all right.”
Seeing her excited expression, Saelli couldn’t bring herself to be strict, nodding with a wry smile.
There were many words to say, but Alice was the one she was fond of the most among us.
And—
Gwaaaaaaak!
“Hey, let go of me, Sara!”
“Mercenary! Free this corner immediately. At this rate, I won’t be able to get to Aris.”
“…Two princesses who cannot grasp the atmosphere. What are you two trying to intrude upon?”
Two girls were caught, one on each of my arms, frozen in a running posture.
Muttering “Of course, they are sisters,” their names were Anna Akaia and Remi Akaia.
I really didn’t want to admit it, but they were Alice’s biological older sisters.
Even if their relationship was shaky, they acted so similarly that they looked at Alice and Saelli, who were flirting a moment ago, and united to separate the two as if to negate what just occurred.
As I pulled them back, I shook my head vigorously, trying to dispel the assumption that all those with the last name Akaia had such personalities.
Right. Alice shares the last name Akaia too, doesn’t she?
Not all are like that… right?
“Aris—! Come here! Here, there’s a sister that Aris likes!!”
“…..Aris. There’s a flower here too.”
Hmm.
“……Tsk.”
The conclusion of this monumental dilemma was simply that these girls were a bit eccentric.
Of course, I knew better than anyone that revealing the process leading up to this conclusion could mean never seeing the sun rise again tomorrow, so I kept my mouth shut.
Unfortunately, there really was no such thing as freedom of the press in this world.
I was well aware of how to read the atmosphere unlike them.
“Are you okay, Alice? The smell coming from here seems to hold quite a spicy aroma.”
“….Hmm? No…. I’m fine, Elli Unnie. Hehe.”
Sometimes, we might buy and eat some skewers that looked strange and made of unknown meat.
“Aris~! How about this? It’s a butterfly-shaped bookmark! Let’s each take one!”
“Uh….? Ah, I’ll choose the orange one.”
“Orange? Isn’t there just yellow and green… hmm, you mean this yellow one, right, Aris?”
“……Yep, that’s right!”
Sometimes, it felt like they were asking for a bit much, but we also went and bought items that would remain as a page in our unforgettable memories.
The extraordinarily hectic and somewhat ridiculous five-hour festival was coming to an end.
Just as flowers bloom, they eventually wither.
Even the happiest of times, where not a second could be wasted, finally had to face its last moment.
Tap, tap!
“~Ah, that was fun! Hehe, this bookmark is now my treasure!”
“But Remi, you didn’t like books since the old days—uh, ah. I-I’m sorry. I said sorry, Remi—!”
As we reminisced about the happy memories of the festival and slowly savored the setting sun of the evening, we suddenly heard—
“Unnies─”
“……Huh?”
Alice’s voice calling out to us rang through.
Sounding like it was crawling, her voice was small and fragile.
Yet, intriguingly, it was so clear, as if she were speaking directly into our ears.
“─I wanted to buy… a gift for you, umm…”
“……Huh?”
Seemingly shy, she hid her flushed face with her voluminous sleeves.
With her cute lips peeking through the gap, Alice spoke to us.
“It’s a surprise gift… um… just wait a moment, I’m going to buy something from that shop over there… so, um… because I’m too shy, could I go buy it quickly by myself?”
“……….”
She wanted to give us a gift to express her gratitude for everything she had seen on the way, but it was awkward for Alice to shop for us in front of everyone.
So she said she’d quickly run over to buy it from the nearby shop.
And as for our reactions—
“…No way. Aris, what do you want to buy? I’ll buy everything for you!”
“Why are you jumping in when Alice is offering to buy something!? Hey, stop right there, princess trying to sneak away! Where are you off to with your wallet?!”
“…..I was just going to buy something at the shop. Is that… not allowed?”
“…You all actually get along, right? You’re just pretending in front of me, aren’t you?!”
With all the destructive cuteness of a cat looking up at its owner asking for a treat, nobody could resist that scene where everyone would give anything for Alice.
Well.
“──I’ll be right back since it’s just over there! Don’t you all follow me for real!!”
“….!? She’s gone!”
Alice was about to be treated like an adult as she soon turns thirteen, and nobody could follow her when she dashed ahead to a shop just in front.
Since it was just a place right there, and this was the capital of the empire known for its public safety.
There was no reason to restrict the actions of a child when it came to her freedom.
There was no reason to stop a child running out to buy a gift for us while worried about us berating each other in her absence.
“I’ll be back, so don’t fight without me──!! I mean it───!!!”
“Okay! Be careful coming back, Alice!!!”
We all waved our arms as we looked back one last time, watching Alice return along the path she had come, only hoping for her safety.
What gift would she bring? We thought with anticipation.
This much should be fine.
That’s what we believed.
But.
“What──?!”
“What’s wrong, Saelli?”
In this hellish world.
This shouldn’t have happened.
The nightingale singing of dawn had its wings broken.
Now, where does that bird go?
“It was already predetermined where to go.”
Everything was, for the first time.
The streets were bustling with monochrome people.
The mid-aged man descending the stone steps wore a thick black coat, and children were playfully chasing each other, seeming to steal the outerwear of the others.
The long strands of pure white hair peeking out from the headscarf of a woman sweeping the shop’s door, and the pitch-black apron she wore.
The world was filled with only black and white. And in between, an array of ambiguous gray shades sat idle.
“………”
And within that cold city, I walked alone on the inorganic road where the concept of color did not exist.
Remi, Anna, Elli, and Sia—my treasures that cannot be traded for anything in the world.
I whispered their names one by one, knowing they would still be behind me, watching my unremarkable figure until I disappeared.
Yet still.
Perhaps my vision would catch a glimpse of them even for a fleeting moment.
Perhaps my wavering heart could not resist a moment of impulse and dash back towards them.
“………..*”
I knew they were watching over me, but I clenched my teeth and tightened my fists.
Only gazing ahead, I continued to walk, repeating the act.
Once the die is cast, there’s no telling what number will show.
From the moment I stepped outside the dorm to buy something.
From the moment I moved to the outskirts of the Saria Empire with Elli.
From the moment the cold water swept me into an unknown forest—
From the moment I was born as the child named ‘Aris Akaia’—
“It seems this was perhaps already determined.”
So, walking and walking—how long did I walk?
“…! …! …!”
I didn’t know where to go anymore.
Now, this particular moment was in a different space altogether.
“Zzz…”
I didn’t even know if it was morning or night.
When I opened my eyes, my vision was filled with pitch blackness.
Connecting the fragmented memories, all I felt was a sting in my heart.
The pain I experienced in the middle of that darkness was the course of events that led me here.
Longing for something I couldn’t define.
“What have I done?!”
That question echoed in my mind in vain.
But among all of it, I realized once again…
No one would forgive you.
“You can’t escape! I forgive you, so stop running!”
Laughter erupting from the sides.
Salt sprinkled onto the wounds.
But deep down, I understood…
I could never return back to my normal self.
But…
“Even in darkness, there must be a single star shining…”
That was what I vowed at that time.
What remains of a person is memory.
So I held onto the last precious gift.
And with my last vestiges of power…
“Aris Akaia will join my friends forever!”
: Huh? Who is really there? Who did that?
In this moment, all that was left in the world was my belief.
The lingering consciousness of Aris Akaia…
“Was all this a lie?”
The world faded away, and I was left wondering.
However, one thing was still clear.
A farewell echoing in the night.
And the pair of memories that I held dear, mixed together…
For each of those golden memories, I will keep the heart longing, the strongest bond that guided me through darkness.
With all that I had learned, I knew…
“Indeed, it is a Happy END.”
NEXT – Sad Ending.
“What if she had made a different choice?”
